PhD on Fabrication and characterization of thermal routers based on 2D heterostructures and graphite

The Catalytic Processes and Materials (CPM) group, from the faculty of Science and Technology (S&T) of the University of Twente, in collaboration with the Thermal Engineering (TE) group, from the Faculty of Engineering Technology are searching for a PhD candidate for the HOT project. In this project, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), you will develop thermal routers with a core made of graphite, exploiting its high thermal conductivity and flexible properties, and a ultra-high thermal resistive capping layer based on 2D heterostructures to facilitate heat to flow along the graphite core. The thermal routers and the insolation layer must be compact and flexible. These thermal elements will be applied for advanced thermal management of batteries, leading to an isothermal operating performance. The outcome of this project will play a key role in our electrified future.

We envision a candidate that will be using thin-film layer deposition techniques, like Chemical Vapor Deposition, to achieve conformal 2D layers (transitional metal dichacolgenides) on top of graphite. We expect the candidate to be able to conduct thin-film growth in both cleanroom and wet-chemistry labs followed by detailed characterization of physico-chemical and thermal properties of the materials. The thermal characterization will be accompanied multi-physics modelling of the observed behavior, providing new descriptors for the development of advanced thermal conduits. We expect the candidate to interact with the industrial partners of the project, Philips, Thales, VDL and InnoEnergy, for the development of fabrication recipes that can be scaled-up in the future.

The work will be carried out in collaboration between the University of Twente (The Netherlands) (~2.5 years) and the CSIC-Madrid (Spain) (~1.5 year). The work at the University of Twente will be conducted in the Catalytic Processes and Materials group (Dr. ir. J.A. Faria) in the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Thermal and Fluid Engineering group (Prof. G. Brem) in the Faculty of Engineering Technology. In the CSIC-Madrid the work will be supervised by the group FINDER (Dr. M. Muñoz Rojo). You are encouraged to visit the different groups here:

• Catalytic Processes and Materials group (https://www.utwente.nl/en/tnw/cpm/)
• Thermal and Fluid Engineering group (https://www.utwente.nl/en/et/tfe/research-groups/TE/)
• CSIC-Madrid (http://www.termoelectricos.imm-cnm.csic.es/)